#ow

I didn't feel like reading that night, so I went downstairs and watched a half-hour long commercial that advertised an exercise machine. They kept flashing a 1-800 number, so I called it. The woman who picked up the other end of the phone was named Michelle. And I told Michelle that I was a kid and did not need an exercise machine, but I hoped she was having a good night. That's when Michelle hung up on me. And I didn't mind a bit. ↗

— Stephen Chbosky

#the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower #advertising

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#chop #down #first #four #give

Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with landsurveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come. ↗

— Gilles Deleuze

#organized-chaos #power-of-words #writing #chaos

Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you - sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever. ↗

— Lauren Oliver

#forever #lena-holoway #live #time #world

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ↗

— Guillaume Apollinaire

#good #happiness #happy #just #just be

I'm currently in the middle of a depression. I couldn't really tell you what set it off, but I think it stems from my cowardice, which confronts me at every turn. ↗

— Anne Frank

#cowardice

Idiot. Which road do you take when you're running from something weaker than yourself? Or maybe you're the one looking for an excuse to back out. ↗

— Watsuki Nobuhiro

#excuses #manga #rurouni-kenshin #cowardice

We're not going to break anything. Don't think of it as breaking in to SeaWorld. Think of it as visiting SeaWorld in the middle of the night for free. ↗

— John Green

#margo #paper #seaworld #towns #sea

You are confused because the Bible describes God as an omnipotent and benevolent deity…Omnipotent-benevolent simply means that God is all-powerful and well-meaning.” I understand the concept. It’s just…there seems to be a contradiction.” Yes. The contradiction is pain. Man’s starvation, war, sickness…” Exactly!” Chartrand knew the camerlengo would understand. “Terrible things happen in this world. Human tragedy seems like proof that God could not possibly be both all-powerful and well-meaning. If He loves us and has the power to change our situation, He would prevent our pain, wouldn’t He?” The Camerlengo frowned. “Would He?” Chartrand felt uneasy. Had he overstepped his bounds? Was this one of those religious questions you just didn’t ask? “Well…if God loves us, and He can protect us, He would have to. It seems He is either omnipotent and uncaring, or benevolent and powerless to help.” Do you have children, Lieutenant?” Chartrand flushed. “No, signore.” Imagine you had an eight-year-old son…would you love him?” Of course.” Would you let him skateboard?” Chartrand did a double take. The camerlengo always seemed oddly “in touch” for a clergyman. “Yeah, I guess,” Chartrand said. “Sure, I’d let him skateboard, but I’d tell him to be careful.” So as this child’s father, you would give him some basic, good advice and then let him go off and make his own mistakes?” I wouldn’t run behind him and mollycoddle him if that’s what you mean.” But what if he fell and skinned his knee?” He would learn to be more careful.” The camerlengo smiled. “So although you have the power to interfere and prevent your child’s pain, you would choose to show your love by letting him learn his own lessons?” Of course. Pain is part of growing up. It’s how we learn.” The camerlengo nodded. “Exactly. ↗

— Dan Brown

#change

There is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations ↗

— Michel Foucault

#discipline